Point Pleasant Entrepreneur Develops Ultimate Dating App

Valentine's day can be great. It's a holiday with long stem roses, heart shaped boxes of candy, and romance in the air. All you need to celebrate is someone special in your life. Unfortunately, if you are someone who has yet to feel the sweet sting of Cupid's arrow, you're out of luck. For you, Valentine's Day stinks. It's just a reminder of what is missing in your life. Many people turn to dating sites and apps in the hopes that technology can help them find love, but that doesn't work for everyone. So what are the lovelorn supposed to do?

Point Pleasant Beach resident, Mary Mee, believes she understands the problem with dating apps. "I tried a lot of online dating sites when I was single," she said. "What happens is that you end up answering a lot of questions that are supposed to match you with an ideal mate. This is a flawed approach! There's a big difference between what people want and what is actually out there that would be willing to date them. People tend to have pretty unrealistic opinions of themselves. Most of the time people will either have an undeserved low opinion of themselves or an undeserved high opinion of themselves. The result is the matches the dating site comes up with are based on unrealistic perceptions and expectations. So nine times out of ten you are connected with someone you think is a loser or someone that thinks you are a loser."

After failing to find love online, herself, Mary had almost given up. Luckily for Mary, her mother hadn't. "My mom was always trying to set me up with someone," she said. "I would politely brush her off. I couldn't imagine ever being interested in someone that my mom thought was a 'good catch.' But by the time I was 31, she finally wore me down, and I figured it couldn't be that bad. My mom's friend, Sarah Mee, had a son who was about my age. I'd only met Chase once or twice before and hadn't been too impressed, I tried to be open minded the first time we went out, and to be honest, it wasn't too bad."

Mary admits that it wasn't like their were fireworks when she first started dating Chase Mee, but there was a level of comfort. "Being with Chase I realized that I had been pursuing sports cars most of my life, but Chase was more like a nice Toyota Camry. Comfortable, reliable, safe, and it got me where I needed to go. The other thing I realized is that there was nothing I really hated about him. Sure, there were plenty of annoying things, but nothing truly awful. And after a while I didn't mind the receding hairline and paunchy belly. It also didn't hurt that my parents already approved of him."

The couple married after dating for a year. They now  have two children, Rob age 4, and Sue, age 2. The whole family, Mary Mee, Chase Mee, Rob Mee, and Sue Mee are all very happy. It is now Mary's goal to help other singles find happiness, too. She has developed the Mom Knows Best (MKB) dating app.

Her approach is simple: let Mom pick your partner. "When you use the app, you create a profile describing yourself, and your ideal partner. The difference is that you answer the questions the way your mother would, not the way you would. We even encourage you to get your Mom to answer the questions, herself." The questions are multiple choice. They are designed to help find that special someone your mom would think is perfect for you.

Example of a question regarding a potential mate include:

What should your child's ideal partner look like?

1. As long as they are presentable, that's good enough.
2. Skinny, fat, tall, short... inside aren't we all pretty much the same?.
3. Looks don't matter since they fade anyway, and a partner who is too good looking will attract too much unwanted attention from others.

Examples of a question about their own child:

How would you describe your child to a potential mate?

1. He/she is a real diamond in the rough. Just needs the right polisher.
2. He/she may not be the greatest catch, but he/she is catchable and won't go anywhere once caught.
3. So what's most important, looks? brains? personality? Let's just say, my kid has two out of three. 

"After you answer all the questions, your virtual 'Mom' will show you her top choices," said Mary Mee. "You can then rate the choices as I don't think so, Maybe, or, I guess it's worth a shot. The virtual 'Mom' may then argue with you about your choices until she convinces you to go along with what she thinks is best for you."

The Mom Knows Best app is a available now as a beta testing download for users to try out and make suggestions. The final design is expected to go live on March 1st along with the subscription service which is required to make actual connections. Pricing will be $20 per month or $50 for three months.

"I'm really hoping we'll be able to help a lot of people find happiness," said Mary. "And if not happiness, at least a degree of contentment with someone that their mom will approve of."